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The comment came during one of those informal pregame chats NBA referees have been conducting with the media over the past month. “I think that replay is only going to be growing,” the veteran referee said. He wasn’t commenting on whether it was a good thing or otherwise, but rather that it was an inevitable…

Anyone interested in adding Raja Bell and his $3.5 million deal to your roster? Since this summer the Jazz and Bell’s agent have been trying to workout a buyout of the veteran guard, but the Jazz wanted a deeper discount to let him go then Bell was offering. And frankly, why should Bell take less?…

Last season: Memphis had hoped to turn a magical second-round playoff run (which included pushing OKC to seven games) into momentum for the next season. They were still good — 41-25, which earned them the four seed — but when Zach Randolph went out with knee issues the Grizzlies were not the same. He came…

Three weeks of intense conditioning has finally gotten Rasheed Wallace in shape enough to step on a basketball court. Rasheed Wallace practiced with the Knicks on Tuesday. So tweets Jonah Ballow of Knicks.com. The Knicks signed Wallace a few weeks back, but to a non-guaranteed contract, in part because of conditioning concerns. After a couple…

We think of the NBA Draft as one night, but really it’s the culmination of years of work to get considered, them months and months of workouts and evaluations and the Draft Combine. It’s a lot of work. This lastest “Licensed to Lillard” video follows Damian Lillard through the process (all the way to being the…

This may be something Ray Allen has to deal with for the rest of his career. Allen has not looked like his vintage self in the preseason — he is 6-of-22 from three (27.3 percent) and admits he’s not been able to get in into the kind of shape he wants. The reason for the…

In the NBA, you win with star players (except if you’re the 2004 Pistons, the exception to every championship rule). They’re the guys you lean on in the closing minutes of tight games. The guys that can affect a game with their sheer talent and turn what looks to be a sure loss into a…

Heat coach Eric Spoelstra calls what the Heat do position-less basketball — the idea is to have any player be able to play in any spot on the floor if it creates and/or takes advantage of a mismatch. For example, Chris Bosh is the center, but he can knock down threes and you have to…

There are a couple of reasons to run this clip. One is the DeAndre Jordan finish which is monster. He was like this all game against the Andrew Bogut-less Warriors, a team that lacks an inside presence and Jordan took advantage. The other is that Ralph Lawler’s calls are the best. Jordan has looked good…

The challenge of getting Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire to mesh on offense — to get the Knicks playing well when the two of them and Tyson Chandler are all on the court — remains the key to the entire season on the island of Manhattan. But not the start of the season. With Stoudemire…

“We’re doing it every way you can do it. If we were a sex manual it’d be a best-seller.” —Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle discussing the rash of Mavericks turnovers this preseason, speaking to the Star Telegram (hat tip to SLAM). The Mavericks are averaging 19.2 points per game this preseason. They are doing it…

John Lucas III isn’t going to see the floor a lot early in the season in Toronto — Kyle Lowry and Jose Calderon are ahead of him on the depth chart. Until the Raptors find someone to take on Calderon and his quality play and inflated $10 million contract in a trade, Lucas is going…

Dwight Howard was the three-time defending NBA Defensive Player of the Year going into last season. But there was no four-peat. Howard had a messy off-the-court season in Orlando that he should want to forget, plus he finished the season injured. Tyson Chandler won the award for his fantastic play in the paint that turned…

Welcome back to our PBT Extra preview tour of the NBA divisions, the next stop is the Southeast division. Which is top-heavy with a Miami Heat team that should be better than last year’s title squad. It’s not just LeBron James‘ newfound maturity or the addition of Ray Allen, it’s that the Heat have figured…

Stan Van Gundy came right out and said the reason he is not one of the studio hosts for ESPN’s NBA Countdown studio show (the one that wraps around their game broadcasts on ESPN and ABC) was that David Stern and the NBA shut him out. His brother Jeff Van Gundy — the lead analyst…

UPDATE #2, 11:17 pm: Austin Rivers left the building in a walking boot, but that is no big deal as they are used as a precaution by teams on almost any ankle sprain anymore. Rivers also said: “I don’t think it’s nothing too serious.” I will ignore the double negative and assume he meant it…

It’s back — PBT Extra has returned just in time to start doing some division previews for the NBA season. Matt Stroup and I start off our run of previews in the Atlantic, which is as deep a division as there is in the NBA. There are playoff teams and the Raptors are going to…

There are 15 seconds left in the game, your team is down by one, and you can have anybody in the NBA take that shot. Who do you want? For years now NBA general managers have said “Kobe” in their annual survey when asked what one player they would want taking a shot with the…

You get the feeling this will be a trend this season. Avery Johnson is a coach who focuses on getting his guys to defend. He’s got a very talented offensive roster in Brooklyn but not guys really known as “defense first” players — when Brook Lopez is the guy defending the paint you’re going to…

Everyone has that buddy that acts perfectly logical and sane, but forces you to reevaluate your friendship after he blurts out something like, “Carlos Boozer is going to win MVP this year!” Well, good news everyone: NBA General Managers are just like you, me, and your friend you can no longer take seriously. Let’s take…